29 Aug 2023
Homeowners of Green Star Homes can expect to save up to $115,000 and shave several years off their 30-year mortgage.
That’s the headline from KPMG’s independent cost benefit analysis of the Green Star Homes Standard.
When we launched Green Star Homes in 2021, we wondered what would happen if homeowners ploughed the money they saved on energy bills back into their home loan – and KPMG has given us a definitive answer.
Homeowners in Melbourne would save $95,000 in interest, Sydneysiders would save $100,000 and 8.5 years and Canberrans a massive $115,000, and trim around two years off their mortgages.
On releasing the findings, KPMG’s Partner of ESG Advisory and Assurance, Mark Spicer noted the findings “show that the economics now align with the significant amenity uplift of a greener, more efficient and healthier home”.
The economics are exciting. We have always known that a Green Star Home is better for the planet, and that living in one is better for our health. Now we have independent modelling to show that it is also better for your hip pocket.
And as the cost-of-living crisis continues to play out around the country, this is another positive proof point in our conversation with all Australians.
In this issue of Green Building Voice, we unpack how Future Homes Supporting Partner Stiebel Eltron has been helping homeowners go all electric for 100 years. We look at how circular economy thinking is threaded into the new Green Star Fitouts rating tool. And we talk to David Clark, Chair of the Green Star Technical Advisory Group, about how we take electrification to the precinct scale.
But if there is one common thread over the last month, it is our work to elevate Green Star’s brand and capture the hearts and minds of new consumer audiences.
Green Star is firmly entrenched in the minds of the business community and increasingly part of the financial lexicon. (It was great to see Goodman Group's commitment to register its new industrial developments under Green Star Buildings capture Sydney Morning Herald’s attention recently, while the Sydney Opera House's 6 Star Green Star journey was celebrated by Architecture & Design).
But as we foreshadowed in last month’s Green Building Voice, our new communications campaign Better buildings, today and tomorrow aims to spread the word wider, because if we want to change everything, we need everyone.
That’s why it was such a thrill to sit down with the War on Waste’s Craig Reucassel as part of the Powerhouse Museum’s 100 Climate Conversations recently. The all-electric Powerhouse Parramatta will be verified with Green Star Buildings. But 100 Climate Conversations takes place in the former boiler hall of the old Ultimo Power Station. Alongside the smokestacks and coal rail carts, journalists and climate champions are engaging Australians in new conversations about the future. Craig and I talked about the enormous challenge of waste and the dawning of a new Industrial Revolution based around circular economy principles. You can download our chat or check out the dozens of other fascinating discussions from the 100 Climate Conversations website.
Speaking of new conversations with consumers, the FIFA Women’s World Cup brought the green to “green and gold”, with all 10 venues across Australia and New Zealand achieving Green Star or LEED certification. While the Matildas’ on-field performance has been outstanding, FIFA's hard work off the field will influence major sporting venues for decades to come.
And that’s certainly something to cheer about.